


Once Daily

by cuteashale



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 22:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9291359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuteashale/pseuds/cuteashale
Summary: Brush twice, floss once.





	

**Author's Note:**

> wow, hey, it's been a while. i no longer watch sleepy hollow but as i was rummaging through my docs the other night i discovered this fic, fully finished and completely abandoned in a folder i didn't know i had. i figure let's not waste fic, right? and idk how many other people are unhappy with the direction the show went but i figure we could all use some old school happy moments.
> 
> this is a sequel to my fic [twice daily](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1002183) but you don't really have to read that one first to get the gist of this one

Ichabod startles when Abbie breezes into the cabin with a paper bag held in the crook of her arm.

 

"Miss Mills," he says lowly, confusion slowing his words. "I wasn't expecting you. Is everything alright?"

 

"Yeah, Crane, it's fine. Just had a day off for once and I thought I'd make good on a promise I made you." Abbie's smile is warm when she looks over at him and Ichabod can feel his own mouth responding in kind to her expression.

 

"I'm not sure what you mean but I'm happy to do whatever it is you want to do." He blinks down at his lap when a small plastic box hits him square in the chest and topples onto his thighs. "Miss Mills?" he questions uncertainly, plucking up the box between two fingers.

 

"It's floss, Crane. Remember when I told you I'd teach you how to do it?"

 

Ichabod's expression brightens instantly. "Yes! When we were learning about the tooth brushing you mentioned it. I have been keeping up, lieutenant, I assure you."

 

“I’m sure you have been,” Abbie laughs. “Now come on, I’m gonna teach you how to floss.”

 

She heads into the bathroom just down the hall and Ichabod trails after her, anticipation turning each of his steps into something akin to a bounce. The small box is clutched in his hand and when he peers over Abigail’s shoulder he can see that she has an identical box in her palm.

 

“Okay, so look. You pull out a piece about…this big.” Abbie demonstrates by opening the top of the box – it folds back to reveal a small spool of something that looks like thick thread – and pulling at the thread until it starts to unravel. It’s a light green in color and it wraps around Abbie’s forefinger until she pulls it down and it tears off.

 

“And wrap it around your fingers like this, so you don’t drop it. Now, watch carefully, okay?”

 

The string she’s left holding is then wrapped around her finger on the opposite hand and she holds it up, both hands held up toward him so he can see. Ichabod watches with fascination as the lieutenant opens her mouth and pushes the floss down between two of her bottom teeth. They are very white, he notices, and she moves the floss back and forth before popping it out from between them.

 

“See?” Still holding onto the floss, she points to the small box held in Ichabod’s hands. “You try it. You have to get between all of your teeth to shake up the debris that gets stuck between them. Food or whatever. Then you brush it all out with your toothbrush, just like you did before when I showed you.”

 

Ichabod nods, brows pulling together as he struggles to pull out a thread of floss. “I see,” he murmurs. “This is a more hygienic way of picking your teeth, yes? Very tidy.”

 

Abbie’s mouth pulls up at the corner and she nods. “Pretty much, yeah.”

 

Ichabod smiles and makes a soft sound of excitement when he finally manages to get the floss wrapped around his fingers. He opens his mouth and, like Abbie showed him, presses the floss down between his teeth. He does it just slightly too hard, though, and grunts in surprise when the floss pinches his gums. He lets go of it and the strings hang out of his mouth like extra-long beard hairs. “Oh! Lieutenant, I believe I have done this wrong.”

 

Abbie laughs, reaching up to tug lightly on the strands of floss. Ichabod grimaces and when he opens his mouth again, there’s just the smallest amount of blood staining the floss pink. “Oh dear. Oh, dear, I –“

 

“You’re fine.” Abbie reaches up again, this time to pull Ichabod’s head down to her height. She opens his mouth by pinching his cheeks and he mumbles, “Miss Mills!” around the fingers she sticks in his mouth to work the floss out from between his teeth.

 

His jaw works back and forth as his tongue presses around his mouth searching for injury. Besides a slight ache, he can find nothing seriously wrong. Abbie is looking at him again, eyebrows raised until he clears his throat softly and looks back down at her.

 

“It’s not weird to bleed a little bit. ‘Specially since you haven’t flossed in two hundred years. I bleed when the dentist does it and I go every year.” Ichabod’s brow furrows in confusion and Abbie smiles as she explains, “Dentists. They’re like…tooth doctors. “

 

“Ah.”

 

“Wanna try again?” Ichabod looks warily down at the small box of floss and picks it up again. It hurt his gums quite a lot and he’s not sure he wants to repeat the pain. Perhaps if Abbie shows him how to do it correctly, he will fare better.

 

“I’m not sure,” he says slowly. “I don’t think I’ll have much better luck. Could you show me?”

 

“Me?” Abbie’s eyebrows rise toward her hairline. “You want me to floss for you?”

 

“Well, it is just that you have so much more experience with this ‘flossing’ and I must admit, the concept vexes me.”

 

Abbie rolls her eyes, but she pushes the floss to the edge of the sink and hops up onto it. “Alright. Come here, then. There’s no way I can reach you standing up.” The sink doesn’t give her much of an advancement in height, but Ichabod finds he doesn’t have to bend down quite as much as he did when she rescued the floss from between his teeth.

 

“You are not wearing your high heels today,” he notes, looking down at the flat, comfortable looking shoes Abbie is wearing.

 

“Ah, yeah. I wear them when I can. These guys, I mean. I wear heeled boots when I work because no one takes a five foot two inch detective seriously when she tries to arrest them.”

 

Ichabod chuckles softly and opens his mouth when Abbie touches his chin with her thumb. She has gotten another piece of floss ready while she was speaking and Ichabod keeps his eyes on her as she carefully threads the floss between two of his teeth and wiggles it back and forth. She’s much gentler than he was on himself, and her experience shows in the way her hands never falter as they work from one side of his mouth to the other.

 

She moves on to his upper teeth and when he exhales softly against her hand, her eyes crinkle slightly at the corners. “Doing okay?” she asks softly, pressing at his lip with her thumb so it moves just slightly out of her way. All he can do is nod slightly in response before she pulls the floss from his mouth and throws it in the trashcan beside the toilet.

 

“Very okay, Miss Mills, thank you.” He’s finally able to reply once his mouth is free and he licks his lips and runs his tongue across his teeth. Abbie’s eyes follow the movement. “I feel a little strange,” he admits. “Though very clean. Thank you.”

 

Abbie smiles, patting Ichabod’s cheek with her hand. “No problem, Crane. No problem at all.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! consider leaving a comment or kudo on your way out :)


End file.
